Rory McIlroy backs PGA Championship revamp as Ludvig Åberg targets playoff breakthrough

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Rory McIlroy backs PGA Championship revamp as Ludvig Åberg targets playoff breakthrough
Photo: Christer Höglund/TT

In the PGA Tour's final competition, which starts on Thursday, the 30 highest-ranked players will compete for a prize cheque worth hundreds of millions of kronor.

This year's edition looks like most golf competitions: four rounds, 72 holes, and the player with the lowest score takes home the victory.

But from 2028 onwards, that will change.

Instead, the 32 highest-ranked players will compete in a match play format over two weeks. In the first week, the players will be divided into eight groups of four, with the top two advancing to the round of 16 the following week - on a different course.

It's really something new. Two weeks, two different courses. But it's cool. They've undoubtedly invested in a big change, but conceptually I like what I see, says world number two Rory McIlroy.

Motivation?

He sees a risk with the setup: lack of motivation. Even the players who advance to the round of 16 will continue playing until the end of the week, to determine their placings in the playoffs.

Hopefully the big prize money, which increases with each placing, can be enough motivation, says the Northern Irishman.

"I still think you'll want to win some matches in the second week. But it's probably going to be difficult for some guys to get into a match play for 14th place," McIlroy said.

You're leaving the structure from recent years, but I think it will be great.

Åberg makes history

This is not the first time that the PGA Championship has changed its format. In recent years, a format has been tested where the top player in the rankings starts the competition with a lead of between two and ten strokes over the rest of the starting field.

That system was removed last year and in this year's competition all 30 players start on par and the winner after four rounds takes home the playoff spot.

Sweden's hope lies with Ludvig Åberg, who is the first Swede to qualify for the competition for the third time. Only once has a blue-and-yellow player emerged as the final winner: Henrik Stenson, in 2013.

Åberg will be out at 7:12 p.m. on Thursday.

5:00 PM: Tom Kim, South Korea, Ryan Fox, New Zealand.

17.12: Justin Rose, England, Adam Scott, Australia.

17.24: Robert MacIntyre, Scotland, Viktor Hovland, Norway.

17.36: Alex Smalley, USA, Alex Fitzpatrick, England.

17.48: Min Woo Lee, Australia, JJ Spaun, USA.

18.06: Patrick Cantlay, USA, Kristoffer Reitan, Norway.

18.18: Ryan Gerard, USA, Gary Woodland, USA.

18.30: Akshay Bhatia, USA, Hideki Matsuyama, Japan.

18.42: Jacob Bridgeman, USA, Russell Henley, USA.

18.54: Rory McIlroy, Northern Ireland, Xander Schauffele, USA.

19.12: Tommy Fleetwood, England, Ludvig Åberg, Sweden.

19.24: Collin Morikawa, USA, Sam Burns, USA.

19.36: Kim Si-Woo, South Korea, Chris Gotterup, USA.

19.48: Wyndham Clark, USA, Cameron Young, USA.

20.00: Scottie Scheffler, USA, Matt Fitzpatrick, England.

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By TT News AgencyEnglish edition by Sweden Herald, adapted for our readers

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